2008 Woodie Awards
Acedemic Integrity Challenged
Nina Blair Wales Staff Reporter
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Colleges and universities across America have created academic integrity policies to curb cheating and plagiarism. Although these policies exist and the consequences of both are well known, students are still taking risks.
If a student typed "paper on ethics" into an Internet search engine, the top yielded results are sites directing students to fast, easy, and downloadable papers about ethics.
From the ethics of the death penalty, to the ethics of abortion, and ironically, even the ethics of cheating and plagiarism, hundreds of papers are available at a student's disposable.
If you continue to further investigate the search results, there are even sites that provide tutorials on how to cheat and not get caught.
The Internet has made it increasingly easier for students to avoid their responsibilities to complete their assignments.
Sacred Heart created an academic policy that specifically outlines what constitutes cheating and plagiarism.
Although the policy contains standard and conventional explanations of what the university considers as cheating and plagiarism, students often do not adhere to the rules.
"I know cheating is wrong and I know copying another person's paper is also wrong but I will still do it", said an anonymous Sacred Heart University junior.
It is this type of mentality and brazen attitude that have recently sparked counter measures to battle the ever-evolving ways students cheat and plagiarize.
Professors and collegiate advisors have created new tools and applications to end or at least make plagiarism less accessible.
Websites have been developed that specifically focus on the prevention of plagiarism.
Professors can visit websites like www.turnitin.com or www.iThenticate.com to verify that a student's paper is their own original work.
By simply scanning a student's paper into the computer and uploading it to one of these websites, the website can then identify phrases and sentences that have appeared in previous publications.
If a student typed "paper on ethics" into an Internet search engine, the top yielded results are sites directing students to fast, easy, and downloadable papers about ethics.
From the ethics of the death penalty, to the ethics of abortion, and ironically, even the ethics of cheating and plagiarism, hundreds of papers are available at a student's disposable.
If you continue to further investigate the search results, there are even sites that provide tutorials on how to cheat and not get caught.
The Internet has made it increasingly easier for students to avoid their responsibilities to complete their assignments.
Sacred Heart created an academic policy that specifically outlines what constitutes cheating and plagiarism.
Although the policy contains standard and conventional explanations of what the university considers as cheating and plagiarism, students often do not adhere to the rules.
"I know cheating is wrong and I know copying another person's paper is also wrong but I will still do it", said an anonymous Sacred Heart University junior.
It is this type of mentality and brazen attitude that have recently sparked counter measures to battle the ever-evolving ways students cheat and plagiarize.
Professors and collegiate advisors have created new tools and applications to end or at least make plagiarism less accessible.
Websites have been developed that specifically focus on the prevention of plagiarism.
Professors can visit websites like www.turnitin.com or www.iThenticate.com to verify that a student's paper is their own original work.
By simply scanning a student's paper into the computer and uploading it to one of these websites, the website can then identify phrases and sentences that have appeared in previous publications.